Posted on 12/30/2006 7:35:33 AM PST by A. Pole
Leonid Nevzlin, a former Russian oil billionaire, yesterday dismissed allegations by Moscow that he ordered the radioactive poisoning of Alexander Litvinenko.
Mr Nevzlin said he had co-operated with British authorities investigating the murder of the dissident Russian ex-spy in London.
The Russian prosecutor-general's office said on Wednesday that it suspected Israel-based Mr Nevzlin might be involved in the death of Mr Litvinenko, who died in a London hospital on November 23 from exposure to highly toxic polonium-210.
Mr Nevzlin, who is visiting the US, fled to Israel in 2003 to continue managing the affairs of the Russian oil giant Yukos as Mikhail Khodorkovsky, its chief executive, faced fraud and tax evasion charges that would lead to his imprisonment.
An aide authorised to speak on behalf of Mr Nevzlin from New York said the allegations followed a pattern of Russian behaviour in relation to the former oil magnate. "There was never a single time that Leonid came to the US without a new insinuation or accusation being made against him," the aide said.
"Leonid has been granted a 10-year visa, as an Israeli citizen, to the US and the US authorities will have done a full check on all the allegations against him." He denied Russian reports Mr Nevzlin had been detained on his arrival at Newark airport on December 24.
The aide acknowledged that Mr Litvinenko met Mr Nevzlin in Tel Aviv weeks before he died and handed over documents relating to the Kremlin's takeover of Yukos. "Litvinenko came to Israel on his own initiative. When we learnt about his tragic death, we sent these documents to the Israeli justice ministry and to the British embassy in Tel Aviv."
The aide said the latest Russian allegations against Mr Nevzlin were an attempt to muddy the waters surrounding the Litvinenko investigation and came at a time when Mr Khodorkovsky, his former close associate, and Platon Lebedev, another jailed former Yukos partner, faced fresh charges of money laundering.
He said Mr Nevzlin was scheduled to meet senior figures in the US, including congressmen and State Department officials. "The Russians are really scared about what Leonid might say in the US," he said.
Wednesday's statement from the Russian prosecutor's office linked the latest allegations to other murder charges against Mr Nevzlin on which the Russian authorities have unsuccessfully sought his extradition.
A Moscow court issued an arrest warrant against him in 2004 for allegedly organising contract killings and assassination attempts against several targets, including Yukos competitors.
Yuri Shmidt, a lawyer for Mr Khodorkovsky, dismissed the allegations. "The prosecutor-general's office is keen to accuse Nevzlin and stoke up all kinds of emotion," he was quoted as saying.
Rule # 1. Not a single word passing kegebun's lips can be trusted. This includes the pauses a kegebun has to make to swallow the accumulated saliva or to catch his/her breath.
Rule # 2. Not a single constructive deed by a kegebun can be trusted. If a kegebun malingers a suicide, one is to mistrust it and ought to make sure by double-tapping the malingerer in the head. In their destructive capacity, however, one can put one's full confidence.
Rule # 3. For the purposes of the Rules # 1 and # 2, the kegebuns are those directly connected with the infamous organization, it predecessors, successors, affiliates, debtors, creditors, lessees, sub-lessees and assignees [collectively, "KGB"], and all those associating with, and/or pushing, its agenda.
Rule # 3, then Rule # 1.
wink wink
True, and one cannot even trust the pictures they post, for even their truth is a lie. A good example of the necessary logic comes from the old joke:
Two competing merchants, X and Y, meet on the road. X thinks, "he's a competitor. The last thing I need is to have him around to ruin my transactions. So if he asks me where I'm going, to A or to B, I'm not to tell him the truth that I'm going to A and should say that I'm going to B instead. But since he would not believe me anyway, I should say that I'm going to A".
Well, they meet, exchange the greetings, and Y asks, "well, and where are you going?"
"To A"
"You are lying in your teeth, old X, you ARE going to A".
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.